Clockwork Distortions
by Xaelis
Summary: He was there. He was always there. Always watching. The child never asked why. Slenderman would never tell her. He just bided his time.
1. Aberrated Beginnings

_Slenderman cannot be owned_

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><p>No child should ever be able to remember the day of their birth. But she did. She remembered from the moment she opened her pale, blue-grey eyes for the first time and saw her mother's face. She remembered her father looking down at her with hidden disdain.<p>

She remembered seeing the tall man standing in the corner. He was wearing a suit. A nice black one with a black tie and a white dress shirt underneath. The newborn girl had giggled and reached out to him then, making his head tilt slightly. It wasn't until that point she noticed he didn't have a face, but she didn't care.

Then she had suddenly been whisked away, the people in white spouting words she didn't know. The girl cried for the tall man, for her mother as they strapped her down and slid her into a large tube. The loud wumping sound it made not a minute later made her scream all the more.

When the newborn was finally brought back to her mother she clung to her so tightly her weak muscles seemed like they might snap. She didn't notice the tall man disappear.

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><p>They named her Skyler. Skye, for short. Her father disliked her from the start. In his mind, she was a burden, just another mouth to feed. There were times he wanted to rip her straight black hair from her skull. Her mother was oblivious to this due to her own "condition". The woman seemed to have a split personality, going from smiling at the child in one moment to screaming at her the next. Despite this, Skye still loved them.<br>She enjoyed it when the tall man came to visit her too. Sometimes she would be lying in her crib with her eyes closed, and then she would open them and he would be there. Other times she would be playing with her toys when she would look up and he would be standing in the corner. He was always watching her. Skye would giggle and try and get the tall man to play with her, but he never would. He would just stand there.

Watching.

Things continued like that until Skye's fifth birthday.  
>She had been there when the stranger came up to them as they left the movie theater that night. He had pushed her out of the way hard enough to make her skull smash against the wall. She saw him hit her mother, cried out when the woman hit the ground. The man took her purse, her necklace, her wedding ring.<p>

Then he pulled out a gun.

Skye could only watch as her mother's knees burst into disfigured red masses of tissue and bone. Her elbows exploded. As the woman screamed in pain he finally put a bullet through her head, ending the torture. The child could remember staring down the barrel of the weapon, but after that there was nothing.  
>Nothing but waking up in a hospital with the tall man standing nearby.<p>

Her father began hating her all the more, blaming her for her mother's death and the ridiculous hospital bill. He took up drinking as a form of "stress relief".

Sometimes he would vanish for a day, leaving the child to fend for herself until he came back with a beer bottle and a hangover. Sometimes the tall man would come and keep her company those days, but not usually.  
>This time girl had been huddled against her bed when he appeared, head tilted. Skye looked up at him, dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. She didn't want to sleep. She didn't want to see her mother die again.<p>

"Hi." The tall man nodded slightly in acknowledgement. "Will you...Will you play with me?" He stood completely still as he always did when asked that question. Skye cast her eyes sadly downwards and drew her knees closer to her chest. Then there was a faint rustling that made her look up again. All of her toys (at least the ones her father hadn't destroyed in a fit of drunken rage) had assembled themselves in front of her. There was her drawing kit, her stuffed raccoon, Lincoln logs, a small blue ball, the worn alphabet blocks she still held onto...****

**PLAY**, some of them spelled. The child blinked. The tall man had already made it clear he didn't want to play with her, so did that mean he wanted her to play by herself? Skye suddenly remembered something. Something she wanted to give to him. She reached behind her and underneath the bed, pulling out a sheet of paper in such a way that he would only be able to see the blank side. Grabbing a colored pencil, she put the tip against the material. When she looked up, it seemed that the tall man was slightly closer than before, his posture revealing something akin to curiosity.

"What's your name?" It was a question that she'd never asked him before, never having seen a purpose for it until now. Perhaps That was why he seemed surprised, his body tensing for a bare moment. Then the blocks shifted, clacking against each other as they moved on the carpeted flooring.

** SLENDERMAN **

It made Skye smile slightly as she scribbled on the page. When she finished, she held it out to the male.  
>"For you." If he was surprised before, he was stunned now. It took several minutes for him to respond. Something seemed to uncoil and rise up from his back, slowly reaching forward over his shoulder. It looked like a thin tendril of condensed black smoke that was apparently solid enough to grab the paper from the child's hands and hold it in front of his head. It was a simple hand-drawn picture of him and Skye holding hands, a few words written in child's scrawl beneath.<p>

_ For Slenderman. My best friend. _

The tall man abruptly vanished. It scared the girl, making her think she'd upset him somehow. But then the blocks started moving again, drawing her attention to the phrase they spelled out.

** THANK YOU**

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><p><em><span>This is my first attempt at writing and publishing a story. Suggestions would be welcome, flames can be tolerated. Whether I continue this piece is up to you.<span>_**  
><strong>


	2. Masky Mishaps

_I think I'm getting better._

_My thanks to Inumaru12, Milnerton Library Card, and animewiz123 for reviewing and/or adding to favorites. I owe you guys._

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><p>"WORTHLESS<em> BRAT<em>!" Skyler quickly ducked out of the way of her father's incoming fist, dashing out of the kitchen that was full of sharp things. "THAT'S RIGHT, RUN! RUN BACK TO YOUR ROOM YOU FUCKING RUNT!" She heard something crash and a long string of cursing as she scrambled up the stairs.

Ten days. Ten days since she had given Slenderman that picture, and he hadn't returned once and her father had become far more volatile. Despite how much Skye loved him, it scared her. The bottles of funny liquid he drank would sometimes be shattered, pieces littering the carpeted hallway. Her feet would always get attacked by the small shards whenever she walked through it. But when she ran through it like she was, they would often embed themselves in her flesh. Skye quickly burst into her room and shut the door behind her.

She slid to the floor, wincing at the pain in her feet. Her mattress granted her with a pair of tweezers when she reached underneath.

Faint whimpers escaped the child as she pulled the glass from her soles, blood dripping from the cuts. Her relief was almost tangible when it was over. The crimson-stained objects had nearly filled the small trashcan now, a culmination of all the times she'd had to deal with them. The sight almost seemded to taunt the girl as she tried to clean the red liquid from her feet with an old rag. She moved to toss the soiled cloth away, nearly tripping over the blocks she left out in case the tall man came. Frowning, she stacked the cubes into a neat pile before finishing what she'd been doing.

It had been over a week since Slenderman's last visit, something that worried her. He had always come back within seven days at the latest. Skye was worried that she'd offended him somehow despite his last words to her.

A tired yawn contorted the child's face, the faint light from the window above her bed revealing that the moon was nearly up. She would need her sleep if she wanted to play outside tomorrow.

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><p>The woods were lovely, dark and deep. Skye clambered over a fallen log as she chased the robin that had decided to be her playmate for the day, always staying just out of her reach. It chirped tauntingly at her when she stumbled and had to pinwheel her arms to keep her balance. In return the girl blew a raspberry at it and sped up.<p>

Peeved, the bird suddenly took a sharp turn to the side before perching on a low branch. Skye dug her heels in, trying to stop whereas momentum had other ideas. The conflicting forces apparently decided to compromise by sending her falling face first into the ground. She could swear the bird was laughing as she groaned and began to push herself up. However, it seemed that luck wasn't on her side at the moment.

A large weight sent the child back down. Cold hands grabbed her harshly and flipped her over, a forearm pressing against her windpipe. She let out a weak scream and tried to struggle at the sight of the mask mere inches from her face. Skye could feel her muscles begin to shut down from the lack of oxygen, dark spots beginning to obscure her vision. Was she going to die now? Was she going to be able to see her mother again? Would she never see her friend again? It was at that thought her eyes began to water even as she began to slip into unconsciousness.

The girl's assailant suddenly jerked back as if struck, allowing her to cough and gasp for air. She could feel his eyes on her as she slowly raised her torso off the ground. One of his hands reached towards the child only for his fingers to skim her cheek and make her flinch away. The masked man's shoulders slumped upon seeing this.

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><p>He was dead. The Tall One would certainly kill him for nearly suffocating the little one, even if it <em>was<em> by accident. Even if his master didn't murder him, the girl would no doubt fear him.

"M-Mister?" The male shifted his attention back to reality and the small form in front of him. "A-Are you o-okay?" she croaked out. He blinked behind his mask, thoroughly bewildered. The girl was worried about him even after he almost killed her? He shook his head and brought his finger down to scrawl in the dirt.

_**Sorry.**_ Skye tilted her head slightly, something she probably picked up from the Tall One.

"What's your name?"

_**Masky. Call me Masky. **_

"Can you talk?" The masked man shrugged. He honestly didn't know. There had been no need for him to talk around his master, no need to speak to his prey.

His response only made the girl frown slightly, but she didn't question further on the matter. Instead she brought up a different one.

"Do you know Slendy?" Complete and utter silence. The male was caught between laughing at the nickname and scolding her for even using it. In the end he merely nodded, watching as her eyes seemed to brighten. "Is he okay? He hasn't come back for a while." Ah yes, the reason he was even here in the first place. One hand reached into the pocket of his jeans, fingers wrapping around a metal object.

_**He is fine. He sent something.**_ The child's head canted once more. Innocent eyes widened as the masked man pulled a silver locket out from the storage space in his pants, holding it out for her. She took it in such a way that it seemed she was afraid to break it even as she pulled the chain over her head.

"It's really pretty...Can you tell Slendy I said 'thank you'?" He gave a nod in response.

"WHERE ARE YOU, YA DAMN BRAT?" A look of fear flashed across the girl's face for a brief moment as her father's voice echoed. The man was taken aback when she suddenly tackled him in a tight hug.

"Thank you. Please come back."

Masky could only watch Skye rapidly tucked the locket under her shirt and ran off.

_Please come back._

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><p><em><span>I made a reference in this chapter to one of my favorite poems. See if you can find it and tell me either the author of the poem or the name of the poem itself. <span>_

_Also, I'm giving a shout-out to procyonlotor, the first person to actually review (something went wrong and I had to re-post the story, so that's why proc isn't here anymore)  
><em>


	3. Problematic

_Sorry if this or any of the other chapters seems short_. _My writing seems to have degraded when I compare it to some of my old (un-posted) stories. I don't really have an excuse for it._

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><p>Her father was waiting for her when she opened the door. For a moment all he did was glare down at her, and for Skye it was enough. Then she was sent crashing to the side, her mind only registering that she had fallen and smashed her cranium against the floor. A stinging pain in her cheek soon overrode the dull throbbing in her head.<p>

Yelling and cussing barely reached her brain as she realized what had happened.

Her father had slapped her, a fingernail cutting open a thin line on her cheek. He'd never laid hands on Skye before, never physically hurt her before. She didn't understand why he did it. Her only thought was to get away, to hide. When the tears began moistening her cheeks, the child pushed herself up. She didn't look back as she ran to her room. Once there she collapsed onto her bed and silently cried herself to sleep.

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><p>It was the screams that woke her up; terrified yells originating from her father's room. Skye knew they were his, her own fear paralyzing her from going to see the cause. She tried to drown out the sounds by pressing her pillow hard against her ear. The action only served to muffle the noise, but not silence it completely. A frightened whimper escaped her as her eyes squeezed shut.<p>

The pillow was gently tugged away, a pair of hands lifting the child to a sitting position. She opened her eyes to be greeted by the same masked man she had met earlier that day. The window above her bed was open, explaining how he had gotten in. Masky turned and pulled her arms around his neck, making it clear he wanted her to hold on. Skye readily complied and buried her face into the back of his spine as he clambered back out through the makeshift entrance and onto the tree that seemed to hug the side of the house. The male could barely feel the added weight, something that concerned him. However, he was more concerned with getting her away from the house for now.

Masky began jogging the moment his feet hit the ground, arms moving behind him to support the girl. He could feel how tense she was as she clung to him. Leaves crunched under his shoes, the edge of the woods a gaping maw in the night atmosphere. At this point the screams could only be heard faintly; it was a wonder the man hadn't lost his voice yet. Either way, Skye was beginning to relax and it was an improvement to the boy as well.

Trees crowded in around the pair as the girl was gently set down on a moss-covered log. Despite having fallen asleep in her clothes, she was shaking. Although the cold may not have been the cause it was enough for Masky to sit next to her.

"W-Why was Papa screaming?" The boy had been dreading that question, and her distraught expression wasn't helping either. It made lying that much more difficult as he shrugged his shoulders. Skye's posture slumped slightly. "I'm scared Masky." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her, flinching slightly when she rested her head against him.

It wasn't long until she fell asleep in that position.

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><p>Light streamed through closed eyelids, making the child grimace and bury her face into her pillow. Suddenly she paused; she hadn't fallen asleep on a pillow.<p>

The realization made the girl shoot up to find that she was in her own room, the window open and Masky nowhere to be seen. The wall clock read nine in the morning, something that confused the girl. Her father had always made her wake up around six or seven. Why didn't he do it today?

Skye slowly climbed out of bed and left her room, carefully navigating through the mine field of broken glass. Compared to last night, the house was completely silent and almost seemed empty. She took the stairs to the main floor and found herself in the dining room. There was a note on the edge of the table, on the side facing the child. Perplexed, she walked over and took the sticky note in her hand.

_Going out for a while. Be back by dinner. Do whatever you want._

That was all it said. It was odd. It was her father's handwriting sure, but he'd never left a note before. He never let Skye do anything either. In short she was at a loss as to what was going on and what to do.

A slight frown decorated her face as she went to get dressed. She had made up her mind to go outside at least, hoping to see one of her friends or at least find something to keep her mind occupied. Either one would have been fine though she preferred the first option. The girl changed into her grey long sleeve shirt and jeans before going to open the door.

The moment she did, however, she nearly bumped into the tall, well-dressed being waiting just outside.

Skye stared up at him for a moment, eyes wide and mouth agape. Then she rushed forward with a happy cry.

"Slendy! You're back!" The creature was caught off guard by the way the child had wrapped her arms tightly around the lower half of his body as if afraid he would leave again. "I really missed you..." she murmured quietly. It was enough to make her friend relax slightly and even move his hand just enough to touch her lightly on the arm. Skye almost reluctantly released her hold and watched as he turned and begin walking away. She nearly called out to the tall man, only for him to halt and beckon her with a move of his head. The child grinned happily and raced over to him.

Slenderman allowed her to grab his hand as he led her into the woods.

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><p><em>Oh look, a cliffhanger. Huh.<br>_

_3 points and some virtual cake to whoever can correctly guess what happened to Skye's dad and why._


	4. Not a chapter, an apology

Right, I'm really sorry guys, but odds are I won't be updating for a while.  
>Sorry.<p>

-Xaelis


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